Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Friday, August 10, 2012

Another week down

Which leaves two more weeks to go before KILLER OF KILLERS is published. Barring something unforeseen, that is. I was hyped twice for signing contracts for THE VASE to get published. And as I've reported, both times the publishers flaked.

One folded, and the other, well, just flaked. There were a lot of red flags, too. The first red flag was that I had never received any correspondence from the top person of the company. (Who called himself the President.) Just had communications from the Acquisitions Manager, (as she called herself) and my editor, (who was called a senior editor.)

I mean, this "president" never even sent me a countersigned copy of the contract. Then months went by after the first round of edits with no more contact from anyone. Then the Acquisitions Manager finally emailed me to tell me she quit the company. Then after emailing my editor months after that, she, too, said she quit the company.

And never any contact from Mr. President. I had to invoke the part of the contract that enabled me to cancel the contract for noncontact. Fortunately for me that was one of the terms, and I used it.

So will anything like this happen with Melange? God, I hope not. Not when I'm so close. So very close. But I still don't have that ARC. Here's hoping it will come by this weekend. Fingers crossed.
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